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View Poll Results: Should we send help to the Philippines

Voters

35. You may not vote on this poll

Yes, we should send help at the expense of more money to our dept

2468.57%

No, we should be trying to lower the dept instead

720.00%

Maybe, i like the idea of helping, but we should find an alternate means if here is one

Re: Send help to the Philippines ?

Originally Posted by JJB3333

Is it our fault they are 3rd world country's? you say we are lazy but what about them. If they wanted change then they could get change. Look at Syria, look at Egypt and Libya. They might not have been 3rd world country's and maybe not the Philippines either but the rebels in those country's saw a problem and they rose to fix it. If the Philippines doesn't show the same determination to take them self's out of that category is it really our fault? And can you tell me that that money wouldn't be perhaps better used in our economy, say in the private sector where it could produce jobs and revenue and get those people working. How can we get them to work if there IS NO JOBS!? Its like trying to start a car with no keys. You can do it, but it would be a lot easier if you had the keys.
And im not saying don't help country's, just let people take the initiative and donate money to help, not take 20 million dollars (as a start!) out of the government and just give it away when most of that is borrowed money. We cannot afford just to give away money when we are trying to rub two penny's together and not getting a third.

You should learn the usefulness of paragraphs so people actually read your responses. All I see is blah blah blah, isolationism, blah blah blah, car with no keys, blah blah blah...no point.

Re: Send help to the Philippines ?

You should use this good ole' fashioned paragraph strategy (proper English) in the future. Think of it as a "people will actually ready your posts" strategy.

Now that I have dismounted my grammatical horse, I have come up with a proper response.

I understand the genesis of your point. You probably are young and have never left the nest, so to speak, which is fine. I have been to the Philippines for work, and I understand their history with respect to us, and understand the complicated relationship between the Philippines and the US today. I tell you that if we turn our back on friends like this throughout the world, we will very much regret it in the future.

The way you argue, no matter what your description says, you at least lean libertarian with respect to international issues. Here's why libertarians are international relations retards. The US is not, in fact, suspended in some "us" vacuum. In fact, we are the most wealthy, influential country in the world. The reason why you have had the privilege of growing up the way you have is because the US has cultivated and carefully guarded that position.

While that may seem quite unrelated to you in your environment, thankfully there are people who are thinking about our future relationships with other countries. We can probably agree that this is one of the constitutionally mandated roles of Federal government.

Speaking of future relations with other countries, I'm sure you have heard of China's rapid development (please advise if you have not). You see, China has claimed the entire South China Sea (I believe I included the link when I sent it to you earlier in this thread...perhaps you didn't bother to read it as I didn't bother to read your original post...sometimes positions are too predictable to bother reading). Now, when I say China is claiming the South China Sea I mean they are claiming a body of mineral and oil rich water in it's entirety that Several countries, including the Philippines, also claim in part.

The strategic view, and the reason why we are giving government money to the Philippines, is that we must solidify relations with the countries in this region that oppose China's grab for illegal maritime influence. US interests include freedom of the Seas, a significant percentage of the worlds cargo passes through the South China Sea enroute to the US, therefore it is in our interest to keep that body of water free of absolute claim. The Philippines represents that opposition, we have a historic relationship with them (fought and died for their liberation from the Japanese), they are incapable of the logistics of saving the effected area's populations, and we are classy, relief is classy, therefore us giving them relief is a classy move.